Grade striker



p 9, 2 A. w. GARDNER ET AL 2,609,620

GRADE STRIKER Filed Jan. so, 1946 2 Sl-lEETS-SI-IEET 1' I I Adry/ WGardner Palmer Muck/off INVENTOYI'RS Sept. 9, 1952 A. w. GARDNER ET AL2,609, 2

GRADE STRIKER Filed Jan. 50, 1946 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Adr/Z N ardn'r PalmerMuskie gr INVENTORS /2 Patented Sept. 9, 1952 STATES PATENT oFFieElands, Calif ass'i'gn'ors to Gardner-Byrne Coh v I struetion Company,Redlztn'ds, Califl, a, part nership implication Januar '30, 1946, seems.644,293 '11 claims. (o1. s7---10s-)' This iirifeihtioh is a gradestriker r rfsur fatm'g soil, subgrade and other surfacing material andmethodof o eration. The present day requiremehts of lot: ahd widerunways for a rplane takeoff, xt efisive are ags'for 'air'plane landingm'ats, wide' ro'aidweys and other areas or surfacing material,neoess'it'et 'irieiohihes operating on a large area at one run orhi'achine over such surface. Hence this maehirie is developed to work a,wide swath of surfacing me'teri'tl "at each run over the area, to beworked, v I

Ill pr'permgths large areas oi ground-now see-a for the shore mentionedpurposes, a comman praeti'ce is to cut and fill by use of earth movingequipment of large eapacity, with pulldoz'er's, strapseto, to workthefsurfac'e to a rough grade. Engineers find: surveyors set lines ofstates in rows marking the grade desired. In 'eii'pla'ne fields of largeare'aprovision must be made for water ruhofi and drainage and there mustbe no abrupt change in slope, which might advfer'sely effect. airplanesi1 takeoff or landing.

The gjrlid'e stakes setbythe engineers may be in rows 25 feet apart eachmarked to desired grade and the-stakes ma be 20 to 30 feet apart in therows, With ebulldoz'er orrjscraper a sinuous or serpeiit'irie path isfigra'ded twistin'g on one'side and men on the other or thessquence ofstakes. This produces the approximate grade adjacent to the row ofstakesh nd on both sides of each'row. The Wide space between the narrowpath'al'ong the hire or stakes is left very irregular as to soilsurfaoing materifaie nd contour. 2 p

v For roit'js of stekesfldfe'et apart the present mtohine spans 23 feet1111' Vega-ch 'ruh. \The g a e striker employs self riyeh vehicle fromwhich is suspended a transverse bridge. or truss, iram'e: and on theouter en s of the bridge are runf 'er's oifshoes wl ii e h'rest uporitifild slide on the gr ase alon the line of stme {The bridge ear"- :riesfrom the bottom cord series of strikerjscrap 'er bladesfivhih @rg m ssedwith "plow-dike diverging blades dt theoer'iter line. A set of diyrgihgblades strikes the suriaoe material out thirdly from the entr line andadjacent the shoes or,sl;ids are blades sweeping material inweirdly. Thestriker blades shift the surface ma; terial above m gma-eline laterallyrfillihgfthe lowfs'pots and for ga series of smell windrows or lirlesof piled up s rftoe materiel. Thebottom cord of the bridge 21150 hasdisplaeeable material pusher drifter blades set in iront or thedia'gor'lal striker pisses. These drifter blalds may be turned, tow,rqly outer dri'itihg position when the meefi fie fu bt ofis to tfike thesurface material 'sidewise. 'Wn'ehjtne, drifter blades are turned downthey eng'p'e the fniete'riel or the 'wihdrows ens drift this lengthw sethe zha'chifieruh. This ejction c'afus'es deposit 0 more material in thelow spots 5 he mul tes the surplus material in transverse messes forf'iemoval by scrapers ortrucks,

An important feat re or thejinynitio' the adjustable connection betweenthe skid shoes o d the bridge with its striker and drifter blejde's.Thisconnectio or; e'eoh side is powe operated to u te t th. or t of hwas. one bridgeskid sn e anq blade'shr'e obignegtedt the vehiele toprev-mes front endpull o the as emb T .Ys i s ii q 'f ms d l w r n t e mso?! til su h .s end sidewise either w'ay Ilhe bride" I and bl es a @Qfii may ai and lowere or tilted sidewise toeither si e o f the y'ehiole.

t s 'r s l 'lsv lin For we provided forthe rik ah .e 18- So me the e sie T tak at n sid to ly rash ar afr i ir nemni trips of the str er tbsurr' c'e, the fheteriell, there is a stersi slope to hfwor I d,'speci'fi f tions of slope are, g ven 'tl'rehi hihe o'pr or; Theprocedureusuelly is to set the skid sh travel on the jgradfed surfae'ealong the l' stake's ejrid byjth'e sid inclinttion'giel'eth it" shoe isset to rideonthe fg'rouiid surf o'e, heno'e thebridge withgitsbladesfadj desiredcross slope. This 'd smpemaychange gradually in a 1o gmsejn n, ent the ige is positioned for may iri'spectiohb'y the operatOi. t

e h ds aeratin i e ee eiw preset grade the surface material is sweptside We tiqnfi h dess zadius e y the position of the skidfshoes therebydepositing material; in low spots or forming a series of windro'w's withthe surface material. Then the run or part of the same is againtraversed by the in'chine with the pusher blades in oper'tiye'positiofi. This develops d rollingand substmtielly uiu'rqrm lfat eralspread (if the pushed n'itfiahbusir'i deposit in low spots and crossmounds of surplus material. These monies r'rn'oyd' by eon- Fig. 2 is aplan taken in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig. 1 detail parts beingomitted.

Fig. 3 is a broken front elevation on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2, detailparts being omitted.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of one skid shoe taken in thedirection of arrow 4 of Fig. 5, remote parts being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the front and taken in direction of arrow 6 ofFig. 7, remote parts being omitted.

Fig. '7 is a vertical section on line '|'I of Fig. 6 in the direction ofthe arrows.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section on line 8-8 of Fig. 6 in the direction ofarrows.

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal vertical section of the bridge and strikerblade assembly, parts being omitted, on line 5-4! of Fig. 10, indirection of arrows.

Fig. 10 'is an elevationtaken in direction of arrow ll! of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a detail front elevation taken in direction of arrow of Fig.12 of the mounting of drifter and striker blades.

Fig. 12 is a vertical longitudinal section on line |2|2 of Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a partial elevation similar to Fig. 1 illustrating wheelssubstituted for sliding skid shoes.

In the general views of the machine of Fig. 1, 2, and 3 part of thesupporting, moving and power supply vehicle is indicated byassembly 25,showing one pair of a set of driving wheels and steering wheels 21. Anelongated part of the chassis 28 of substantial construction connectsthe axle of the front wheels fland the main part of the vehicle 29,being conventional has the power plant, drive to wheels 26 and most ofthe control devices. A pair of separately acting longitudinal leverbeams are carried by aligned transverse fulcrums 3| on the forward endof chassis 28 and the rear ends are raised and lowered by a jack 32connected to chassis 28. Lever beams 30 are pivoted at their forwardends to a front transverse pulling and tilting. bar 33.

Bar 33, note details Figs. 6, '7, and 8, has a central part'34 square incross section and is connected with thebeams 30 by pintles in the endsof the cross beam. 'A central longitudinal gusset plate 35 has a squarebearing opening 31 rounded at the edges, which bearing forms a centralbearing for transverse bar 33 and lugs 38 on the bar prevent endwiseslippage. Attached to the front edge of the gusset plate 35 is a frontend plate 40 which is parallel to the bar 33. A flat top plate 4| isattached to both the gusset plate 35 and end plate 40.

Two pulling beams are'secured at their front ends 46 to both the-endplate 40 and top plate 4| and thus have a pulling connection to bar 33and lever beams 30. A lifting and lowering jack 55 is attached to therear portion of each beam 45 and such jack is power operated undercontrol of the operator. 'The jack is a conventional type asused onearth moving machines. V

A transverse, bridge or truss assembly 55, note Figs. 1, 2, and 3, anddetail Figs. 9, 10, is hung by hangers 56 from the rear portion ofpulling beams 45. The bridge may consist of an upper chord 51, a lowerchord 58, strut 59 and brace bars 60-: Shims 6| are fitted between thestrut 'and lower chord and conventional steel shapesmay be used to formthe bridge. When the shims are removed, the bottom cord may be slightlyarched upwardly and substitute shims used when it is desired to gradestrike to a camber. For large area working the bottom cord is usuallystraight.

The skid shoe assembly 10, note Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and detail Figs. .4,and 5, of which there is one on each side, has two vertical longitudinalside plates shown connected at the bottom by a channel 12, and bottomplates 73, to which are attached wear plates 14. An eccentric pinconnects the two side plates 1| and functions in adjusting the ridingrelation of the skid shoes and bridge.

'Each lateral end of the bridge 55 terminates in a longitudinal shoeguide beam riding between the side plates H of the shoe and a boxlikebearing structure 8| extends upwardly from beam 80. This box 8| has acircular bearing opening 82, the center of which is 01f center inrelation to eccentric pin 15. A cylinder 83 is journaled in the bearingopening 82 and rotates on'pin 15- and has a rotation arm 84 attachedthereto illustrated located between the side plates H of the shoe. Ajack assembly 85 is indicated with a hydraulic cylinder 85 pivotallyconnected to guide beam 80 and having a piston rod 81 pin connected toarm 84. Control hydraulic pipes etc. lead from the cylinder of the jackto the vehicle for using its power.

As the bearings 82 are preferably in the transverse center line of thebridge the rotation of the bearing cylinder 83 in relation to eccentricpin 15 will raise or lower the skid shoe 10 relative to the bridge.

The striker bladeassembly 90, note general Figure 1, 2, 3 and'detailFigs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 is indicated as having a central materialdiverting plow 9| (note Fig. 2), a series of blocks 92 for spreadingmaterial sidewise, one pair of blades 92 have'rearward extensions 93 toform windrows outside the vehicle drive wheels 26 and converging blades94 adjacent the skid shoes. The striker blades are indicated bolted toangles 95 attached'to the bottom chord 5B of .the'bridge.

Drifter blades "9! are located across the lower edge of the bridge andforward of the leading. edges of the striker blades and are indicatedas.

turnable on pintles 98 on brackets 99 onthe bot-. tom chord of thebridge. The pusher blades are in several sections so that the operatormay rotate them from inoperative raised position to lowered materialdrifting position. The drifter blades 97, when in operative driftingposition, receivea thrust support from the leading edges of the strikerblades 92 as shown inFig. l2.

A lateralslope' gage I05, note general Figs. 2 and 3, is indicated of afluid level type, having a transverse pipe I05 located in the bridge andparallel to the bottom chord. Risers I01 at each end have sight gagesI03 positioned for convenience of observation by the machine operator.

The general manner of operating is substantially as follows: Formovement over the. ground without working, the jack 32 may be used toraise the front end of lever beams 30, which hoists the front end ofpulling beams 45. The jacks 50 mounted on'the part 28 of chassis canlift the rear ends of beams 45 and hence raise the bridge 55 and itsassembly of striker and drifter blades wellabove the ground surface.

Usually the machine is to work the surface be tween two lines of stakessetting the grade .on. both sides of the'machine run and the ground"adjacent the rows ofjstakeshas been graded by.

conventional. equipment.

ul'ated. to bring the skid. shoe win contact. withv the graded line ofthe stakes and jacksw 85 are used to bring the striker blades to operateonthe desired grade side. slope, if any. weai' plates 1'4" and hence theshoes do not carry all the weight of the bridge 'assembl'y'5'5; but thisissupported in part by jacks32. and 50; However, sufficient: pressure isbrought on the striker blades to out the surface material above grade,movet'hi's sidewise to deposit in low spots and form a series ofwindrows of the surplus material.

Should there be low unfilled places the bridge and striker blades may beraised, the 'machine run backward to a section of the run having surplusmaterial in windrows. The blades are again set to grade and the drifterblades brought into operative position, the machine driven forwardly todrift such surplus material over the unfilled areas. While the machinetravels the jacks 85 acting on the shoes may be operated to raise theblades slightly above grade to spread the surplus material. The machinemay be again backed and striker blades worked over sections of the runrequiring considerable fill.

If the cuts are greater than the fills the windrows show the amount ofsurplus material. The machine then makes a run with the drifter bladesshoving such surplus into a succession of cross mounds lengthwise of therun, which mounds may later be removed by" standard equipment.

Should a grade line be adjacent one line of stakes only the shoe on suchside is set to grade, then by using the sight gage I95 the bridge isinclined, should there be a, side slope, to the specification and theother shoe adjusted to bear on the unworked surface or be carried abovethe surface, if desired. The machine then works a run striking thesurface material to grade. In the next parallel run one shoe travels onthe section just worked. The side slope is maintained by the operatorchecking the gages I05 by the specification. As the machine traversesits run the side slope may be altered in accordance with thespecifications of the job. The jacks 85, which regulate the relation ofthe shoes and blades, hence may make adjustments as the blades wear.When the wear of the blades becomes excessive, they may be readilyremoved and replacement blades substituted. In making a run with theskid shoes on one side sliding on the established grade line itsometimes happens there is so much surplus material that the shoe on theother side cannot be lowered to grade but must slide on material havingan uneven surface. In such case the bridge and blades may be lowered tothe grade line and the operator checking by the sight gage I08 maymaintain the correct grade cut and side slope.

When the machine is moved from one job to another the bridge assemblymay be disconnected by unbolting the hangers 56 from the pulling beams45: also the hydraulic connection 'to jacks 85 of the shoe adjustmentmust be disconnected. The bridge with its associated parts may then betransported by truck: and if the distance from one job to the next isnot too great, the vehicle may make the journey under its own power.

An equalizing auger assembly I20 is used with the drifting or bulldozerblades 91 and is located forward of the drifters 91 and transverse ofthe machine (note Figs. 1, 2 and 3) with the outside ends I2I journaledon the inside of the side plates H of the shoe assembly 10. The augerblades When. the machine. is. lined up for axrun, the jacks 32 and'5liare manip through 'ag'ear box I25 from a main shaft I26,

driven by an engine I21 provided with a clutch and change speed gears,if desired.

The augeris so located as not to interfere with raisin and lowering ofthe drifting blades 91, and, is operated when these are lowered todrifting position to shift the surplus material from the windrows made.by the striker so for action by the drifters' 91.

Fig... 13 illustrates wheels I30 substituted for channels 12, bottomplates. 13 and wear plates 14.. Wheels I30 are journaled in side plates,II of the shoe assembly Ill andioll on the mineral aggregate.

l. A grade "striker having a vehicle with a longitudinally extendingchassis, the vehicle having driving and steering Wheels, longitudinallever beams -fulcrumed on the forward part of the chassis, at'ransversebar pivotally connected. to the forward ends of "the leverbeams, a rigid transverse structure .pivo'tally connected to said bar.pulling beams rigidly attached to such transverse rigid structure, atransverse bridge having a rigid connection 'to the rear ends of thepulling beams, means interconnecting the vehicle and the lever beams toincline such beams as to the longitudinal direction, meansinterconnecting the vehicle and the pulling beams to incline such beamsas to a longitudinal direction and aggregate means mounted on thebridge.

2. As claimed in claim 1, a shoe on each end of the bridge having meansfor contacting the subgrade, and means to raise and lower each shoe inreference to the end of the bridge to which it is connected.

3. A grade striker including a vehicle, a bridge extending laterallytherefrom, a shoe bearing on the subgrade, an adjustable connection forvar ious adjustments between the shoe and the bridge to operate the shoeon a subgrade and maintain the bridge a constant space from suchsubgrade for any particular adjustment, and material aggregate workingmeans mounted on said bridge.

4. A vehicle, a bridge extending laterally therefrom, striker bladescarried by the bridge positioned diagonally as to the forward travel ofthe vehicle, and a drifter blade mounted on the bridge and movable froma raised to a lowered position to drift aggregate in front of thestriker blades, the forward ends of the striker blades being positionedto develop a thrust support to the drifter blade when in lowereddrifting posiion.

5. A device as in claim 4 an equalizing auger on the bridge forwardofthe drifter blade, with means on the vehicle to rotate the auger.

6. A vehicle having a transverse bridge, with aggregate moving meansmounted thereon, a shoe to contact the subgrade, a connection betweenthe bridge and the shoe including an cecentric whereby the shoe may beraised and lowered for various adjustments in reference to the subgracleand the aggregatemoving means and the shoe retained in constant relationeach to the other for any particular adjustment.

7. A grade striker including a vehicle, a transverse bridge connected tothe vehicle, material aggregate working means on the bridge, a shoe tobear on the subgrade, an adjustable connection between the bridge andthe shoe to operate the shoe on the subgrade, means to actuate saidadjustable connection While the vehicle is in motion, the shoecontacting the subgrade and the aggregate working means operating on theaggregate.

8. A grade striker including a vehicle, having a station for anoperator, a bridge extending laterally from the vehicle, meansadjustably connectin the vehicle and the bridge, a shoe to bear on asubgrade, an adjustable connection between the shoe and the bridge tooperate the shoe on a subgrade, means under control of the operatorwhile at his station on the vehicle to operate the adjustable connectionbetween the vehicle and the bridge, and to independently operate theadjustable connection between the shoe and the bridge while the vehicleis in motion and material aggregate working means mounted on saidbridge.

9. A device as in claim 8 the adjustable con-- bar, pulling beamsrigidly attached to said transverse rigid structure, a transverse bridgehaving a rigid connection to the rear portion of the pulling beams,means interconnecting said chassis and the pulling beams to incline saidbeams in a longitudinal direction and aggregate moving means mounted onthe bridge.

11. A vehicle having a transverse bridge with aggregate moving meansmounted thereon, a 1ongitudinal guide beam secured to the bridge, a shoeto contact a subgrade, a rigid structure forming part of the shoe andhaving part thereof in proximity to opposite sides of said beam toprevent lateral deviation of said shoe from the direction of travel ofsaid beam, means for various adjustments connecting the shoe and theguide beam to raise and lower the shoe relative to the guide beam andbridge.

ADRYL W. GARDNER. PALMER WROCKLOFF.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 532,679 Mason Jan. 15, 13951,821,843 Lucas Sept. 1, 1931 1,910,120 Mowbray May 23, 1933 1,969,204Carlson Aug. 7, 1934 2,040,708 Persson May 12', 1936 2,109,393 LeBleuFeb. 22, 1938 2,160,193 Arndt May 30, 1939 2,186,059 Baker Jan. 9, 1940

